A Fan's Origin of the Arkham Knight

With the huge success of the "Batman: Arkham" video game series, everyone seems to be on the edge of their seats waiting for the final installment, Arkham Knight. But little is known currently about the game's titular villain, his origins being kept under tight wraps. But this fan has an idea that takes on the challenge of who the Arkham Knight is and where he came from...

It's been so long since Batman started protecting Gotham that the city has almost forgotten what it was like without him. But not one man. There is still one man who remembers very much what life was like before Batman, before the Waynes died, before everything changed, and he has been silently waiting in the shadows for the right moment to emerge and set it all right.

He daily thinks of the days when Thomas and Martha Wayne were still alive, how different Gotham was... how different Bruce was. Bruce was a young man without a care in the world. Then his parents were killed, and he was left alone, except for his butler at his side. Later the news had broken that Thomas and Martha Wayne's killer had been killed in a mugging, but no one knew the details. But that wasn't enough for Bruce. Nothing ever seemed to be enough. Bruce Wayne dedicated his life to fighting crime, giving up any chance of hope and happiness to put away criminal after criminal; his own sanity at times seemed to be at stake as he lived for nothing but to pursue and take down members of Gotham's underworld, and one man simply couldn't stand for it anymore. For years he tirelessly put away every penny he could to gather the proper resources, the necessary equipment, the cybernetic suitto augment his abilities. He carefully, secretly planned out his every move to put a stop to Batman, to make the caped crusader lay down the cowl once and for all.

Finally the day came. The Arkham Knight donned his new identity and entered Gotham as the only one who could stop Batman. He found himself doing things he never thought he was capable of, things he hated himself for, but it was all necessary if Batman was to be stopped... if Bruce Wayne was to be saved. In a final confrontation, the Arkham Knight beats Batman down, crippling him with a massive blow to his legs. Batman can't stand. Even HE knows it's over.

Suddenly the Arkham Knight pulls a bodybag out of the back of the Batmobile, Batman asks how he got it in there in the first place. The Arkham Knight unzips the bodybag to reveal someone of Batman's similar size dressed in a similar Batsuit. He quickly puts two bullets in the corpse's head and then tosses the gun away. Batman yells out one last demand for the Arkham Knight's identity. The villain pulls off his mask to reveal Batman's greatest foe.... and friend.

"..... Alfred?"

"Yes, Master Bruce." Alfred answers with his head hung low in shame. "I will never expect you to understand, but I had to save you. You were so passionate, so blind... so lost. You couldn't stop. Even when I killed the man who murdered your parents, you still only fell deeper into this madness. Nothing was ever enough, no matter how many criminals you locked up, no matter how many lives you saved. It was never enough. I couldn't convince you to give it up, and I finally accepted that. I have done things now that I will never forgive myself for, but it was all for you. I had to help you. This body here should convince everyone that the Arkham Knight succeeded and we can disappear in peace. I can only hope that someday you may yet forgive me for what I had to become to save you from yourself."

How does it all end? We shall have to wait for the game's release and see...

Hopefully this is the way it turns out, but either way, this was so much fun writing! Thanks for reading!